


Intoxicated

by hollyblue2



Series: Writing Challenge Entries [36]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alcohol, Breakfast, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, drunk!Dean, hints of angst, roommate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 00:57:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19897249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyblue2/pseuds/hollyblue2
Summary: Cas finds Dean drunk in the fourth bar he searches after Dean sends some worrying texts to him. Dean has surpassed his flirty, chatty self and fallen headfirst into feeling utter desolation. It leaves Castiel to pick up the pieces.





	Intoxicated

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Writers of Destiel Weekly Words. The prompt was 'too many beers'. 
> 
> Beta'd by fangirlingtodeath513 :) 
> 
> It feels like I have written in a decade, but it's only been a few weeks, and in those few weeks, things haven't been great, but I managed to write this, so so so slowly. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this little fluff/angst piece :)

* * *

Dean stumbles ungracefully when Castiel pulls at his arm in the bar.

“Dean, c'mon,” Castiel says, tugging harder on his sleeve, but Dean doesn’t budge from where he’s half off the barstool. Dean glowers at him.

This is the fourth bar Cas has been to, trying to find Dean after he sent several concerning texts. Now it looks like Dean’s forgotten everything he sent and hates Cas for dragging him away from his beer. One too many by the looks of it.

“Dean.” Castiel tries to make his voice stern, but all it does is catch the attention of a few people around them who give him a funny look.

“Fuck off, Cas.” The words are slurred and half formed, it’s a miracle that Cas can understand him.

Cas lets go of Dean, then flags the bartender over.

“How much is his tab?” he asks, and she looks at her screen behind the bar.

“Fifty-two seventy,” she announces. Castiel sighs but hands the woman his card which she swipes through before handing back.

“Look after ‘im,” she says and Castiel nods.

_I’m trying to_.

Now that payment is settled, Cas returns to Dean and drags him from the seat, not caring that people are looking.

“Dean, we’re going home.”

“Don’t ‘ave a home.” Dean’s face crumples and Cas’ heart breaks.

Cas pulls him along and soon they’re outside where its cool and fresh over the stuffy smell of alcohol from the bar. “You do, Dean. With me, for as long as you’ll ever need one.”

“Why d’you even care?”

Dean’s hard work when he’s excessively drunk, one of the reasons why Dean was supposed to be cutting down, even trying to stay sober. Dean is absolutely tragic, and it hurts Cas just as much as it hurts Dean, who’s trying to forget or face the memories he’s being served.

“I’ve always cared, and you know that,” Cas reminds him, somewhat bitterly. Then he thinks better of his tone and pulls Dean into a tight hug, feeling his soft body squash between his arms. Dean’s pliant and alcohol-warm, he also stinks to high heaven, but Cas can look past that for a moment.

Cas thinks he hears Dean try to say something, but then fists cling to the back of his shirt, hugging him back tightly and Dean sobs once loudly before reining himself in as much as his intoxicated self can. Before it gets any worse and they both end up embarrassing themselves in the middle of the parking lot, Castiel inches them towards his car.

“Dean?” Castiel pries Dean’s body from him and half manhandles him into his car, doing his seat belt up for him while he’s at it.

Dean doesn’t respond to him, though, just stares blankly out the window and Castiel can’t help but notice how despondent he looks. With a sigh, Cas gets in his side and starts the car, driving away from the bar and back to their apartment across town.

Castiel lets Dean sink down into the chair in the living room. He’s worried, Dean’s not spoken since he got in the car and for the most part Dean is a chatty, flirty drunk when he’s not too far gone.

He kneels in front of him, wedging himself in between the couch and the coffee table and sets his hands on Dean’s knees. He can’t work out what Dean’s thinking about - his face is concerningly passive and even when Cas gives Dean’s knee a little shake, Dean doesn’t look at him.

“Hey, Dean?” Nothing.

Castiel gets up, and when he moves towards the kitchen he sees in his peripheral that Dean watches him leave the room. He comes back with a tall glass of water and sets it on the coffee table. There’s no coaster, and he’s sure Dean will wring his neck in the morning if he remembers. Right now, though, he needs to make sure Dean is okay.

He brings the glass of water to Dean’s lips, which thankfully seems to startle him into drinking. Slowly, Dean’s eyes begin to focus again, on him. Deep green washes over him and Castiel smiles a little.

“There we go.”

“D’you love me, Cas?” Dean rumbles, resting the glass of water on his knee.

Of course Cas loves him. Cas wouldn’t have searched around four different bars if he didn’t love him. Cas wouldn’t have made sure Dean was safe, that he wasn’t going to end up sleeping on some sidewalk for the night, if he didn’t love him.

“Of course,” he answers plainly.

The glass of water falls from Dean’s knee, landing with a thunk and spilling the half-drunk contents on the carpet. Dean doesn’t make to clear it up and Castiel just stares as the darkening patch grows before stopping, soaking in.

Dean’s unsteady hands reach for him and Castiel returns his gaze to Dean. “Really?”

Castiel repeats himself, “of course.”

Dean moves again, still encumbered by alcohol, and his lips come towards Cas’ own.

“You bastard.” Cas pushes Dean away and Dean looks away, ashamed. “No, I’m not doing this while you’re drunk. You won’t even remember it in the morning.”

Castiel stands, picking up the glass from the floor. He takes himself to the kitchen, avoiding Dean’s gaze and tries to shake away the fact that Dean just tried to kiss him.

After so damn long. Not that Cas ever did anything either.

He refills the glass and pulls some painkillers from the cabinet, returning to the couch to find Dean fast asleep, awkwardly angled, one hand clutching the cushion and the other thrown over his chest. The lightly pained frown has gone from his forehead and in exchange he finds peace upon Dean’s features.

He looks beautiful. As always.

Castiel doesn’t hold a grudge against Dean for making him come out and get him, and Cas wakes early despite their late night. He makes his own breakfast, pouring milk over a generous bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and digs in between pulling a frying pan out for Dean’s bacon and making a large pot of coffee.

Multitasking isn’t Cas’ forte and he finds his cereal going soggy as the bacon begins to crisp. The pot of coffee begins dribbling out into the nonexistent pot and Cas rushes to fix it.

He grumbles at his forgetfulness and takes several more spoons of cereal before removing the pan from the stove, then tosses two frozen pancakes into the microwave.

He doesn’t get chance to breathe for a moment as something touches his waist and turns him around with a startle.

“Dean!” his voice is deeper than usual as he hasn’t spoken that morning and he hears Dean chuckle in response.

“Morning, sunshine,” Dean croons. “I would definitely have remembered if I had kissed you last night, you know.”

Castiel’s cheeks heat and the beeping of the microwave pulls Dean away from him. He misses Dean’s closeness as soon as he reaches for the pancakes in the microwave, even though he’s only a mere step away from him.

“Then why aren’t you over here kissing me?” Castiel challenges and Dean turns back to him, a freshly microwaved pancake in each hand, clearly too hot to handle, and grins. He makes a ridiculous picture, but the pancakes are put down swiftly and Dean takes a large step to close the gap between them.

Pancake warm fingertips slide gently over the skin at his waist where Castiel’s too small pyjama tee doesn’t quite meet the sweatpants he’s wearing low on his hips, and Dean’s lips meet his own. They’re soft, Castiel notices, and pressing and Castiel can’t help the smile that forms.

So damn long.

He’s kissing Dean Winchester. The one thing he wanted after finding a random stranger on Craigslist who wouldn’t be bothered by his weird habits. The random stranger who turned a year renting together after graduating college into ten years of friendship, five years of Castiel wondering if there was anything more.

Dean smells like old beer and his shirt is crumpled, but he’s beautiful nonetheless. His eyes practically sparkle like jade in the morning sun and his freckles stand out on his cheeks. Cas loves them even though Dean’s self-conscious about them. Dean’s hair sticks up with slept in gel, and his bleary-eyed state makes him look ten years younger, back to the days they spent at the bar together getting drunk before Dean decided to cut down on his drinking.

Dean pulls back gently, a smile on his face and he takes Castiel into his arms, pulling him in tight and kissing him once more as cinnamon meets the stale beer.

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](https://envydean.tumblr.com) | [My Writing Tumblr](https://envydeanwrites.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
